2014 Château Pontet-Canet, Pauillac, Bordeaux

Lovely deep colour to this, clearly from ripe grapes rather than any extraction process as well. The nose is reticent to start but once it emerges it seriously impresses, rich balsam and dark cherry laden. The palate is very pure and fine, again that lovely rich cherry fruit is here and it is followed by a beautiful clean acidity, it develops further in the mouth and has excellent length. The has real breeding and class, very fine tannins, but serious structure that indicates its long term potential is there behind it all. A contender for the most harmonious wine of the week and we suspect it will age amazingly well.

On the nose this wine is wonderfully expansive, open knit and all-encompassing. There are waves of wild strawberry and dense raspberry characters which have an intoxicating, almost heady and exotic feel. This level of density and complexity is rare in 2014, reserved for only the most serious and aristocratic of Left Bank wines. The palate is equally compelling, combining the astonishing purity and sweetness of fruit which the property has become so well known for, along with a trace of savoury, aged beef, almost tapenade character. Alongside this there is great balancing acidity which combines with ultra-fine tannins to give this wine lift and further precision. This is another top drawer vintage from Pontet-Canet, which shows incredible finesse given the scale and volume of the wine. It does beg the question though, just how can Alfred & Melanie Tesseron’s wine keep improving? They certainly seem to be doing it in 2014.  
Gary Owen, Private Account Manager